Green and White Hoops

Brendan Rodgers confirms contract talks with club-captain

Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers has confirmedthat talks are already underway with captain Scott with regards to a new contract extension with the club. The 33-year-old has made over 475 appearances for the Hoops over the past 12 years but his future has been called into question of late with his contract expiring at the end of the season.

However, speaking ahead of the St Mirren game, Rodgers appeared to sway away any fears of Brown leaving the Hoops by indicating that the midfielder himself is open to the extension, he said: “Scott has made it clear he wants to be here and I am sure there will be a deal done pretty soon on that. He is quite relaxed about it. He knows what we think of him here at the club so hopefully that will be done.”
In the same news conference, Rodgers also spoke about the futures of Leigh Griffiths and James Forrest and suggested that the Hoops are seemingly close to committing the former for the long-term, he added: “We are pretty close on Leigh. He clearly wants to be here, we want him to be here, so that will be good news. We think that it is not too far away. James and his people will be speaking with the club and, likewise, a player we would love to extend here because he has been absolutely brilliant in my time here.”

Celtic have dominated the proceedings in Scotland since Rodgers took over the reins in 2016 and they have managed to win every domestic silverware up for grabs during this period. Nonetheless, there remains the lack of progress in Europe, which remains a concern, and it will be interesting to see whether they can get through the group phase of this season’s Europa League. Celtic have been pitted against Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Rosenborg in Group B and they may need to be at their best to progress to the knockouts.